Question

A milkman adds a very small amount of baking soda to fresh milk.
(a) Why does he shift the pH of the fresh milk from 6 to slightly alkaline?
(b) Why does this milk take a long time to set as curd?

Answer 1

(a) Milk is made slightly alkaline so that it may not become sour easily dut to the formation of lactic acid in it (b0 the alkaline milk takes a longer time to set into curd because the lactic acid being formed has to first neutralise the alkali present in it.